Political Science Extra Credit Homework A divided government is when one party controls the White House and the other controls either or both parts of Congress. This type of government has not always existed in the United States and until recently, it has become the norm in the way that our government functions. In my opinion, I would say that a divided government is a healthy form of checks and balances in the American system. There are of course some pros and cons of a divided government but just like that old saying goes, “If the opposite of pro is con, then the opposite of progress must be Congress.” One negative effect of a divided government is the amount of bickering and undermining that is created between the two sides. While it may …show more content…
When a country only has a one party government, there is only one outcome for every situation. With a divided government, there can be multiple outcomes. What that one party says, goes even if their decision is wrong and ends up hurting the people and country. They may look at certain situations or problems but never really get past them because they feel that nothing appears to be wrong with the way they are doing things. Having a divided government adds much needed insight to certain problems. Divided government is a good thing because each side can meet in the middle and create an atmosphere of cooperation and compromise that will approve legislation which will appeal to the middle and moderate Americans rather than the extremes. In a divided government, each party serves as a watch dog for the other, ensuring that one side does not become stronger than the other. Having these checks and balances ensures that one side does not turn into a tyrannical form of government since the different branches of government have to check on one another, each party has a way of stalling the efforts of the other party. This division also increases the chance of an opposing voice, promotes debates between the two sides and provides a more effective oversight on the executive
Despite American government being characteristically dominated by cooperative feudalism, there is a persistence of national supremacy elements, state’s rights, and dual fideism. The current situation can, therefore, be regarded as balanced federalism. A cooperative relationship between state government and the national government is specifically rooted in a transfer of payments done from the national government to government in lower levels, which is referred to as fiscal feudalism (Bednar, 2009). There are mainly two types of grants which are block grants and categorical grants. This is a federal aid which is spent by states within a given policy area, although with much state discretion. General revenue sharing (GRS) was used back in the 1970s and 1980s. GRS awarded the state maximum control over policies, but gaining political support was difficult for them.
Separation of power prevents the power from falling all into the hands of one or a few and therefore having tyranny. (Madison FP # 47) It prevents this by having the U.S Government split into three branches, Legislative Branch (Congress), Executive Branch (President), Judicial Branch (The Courts). The Con...
The separation of powers keeps any one branch from gaining too much power by creating 3 separate, distinct branches power can be shared equally among. According to Madison, “Liberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.”(Document B) In other words, to avoid tyranny and achieve liberty, the three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial) must be separate and diverse. The purpose of a separation of powers is to divide the powers of the government so there is not only one central source of power. The three branches must be as distinct as possible to avoid falling into the hands of one individual leader. There are also checks and balances between these three branches. Checks and balances are a system of each branch monitoring an...
In today 's government political parties are a large part of government operations and how decisions are made in the government. In Madison 's The Federalist, No.10 Madison talked about how factions can control and cause harm to the government. A solution to this control was the use of a republic in order to limit the power of factions and keep them from having complete control. In our government however, factions have become a major part of the government system with political parties having complete control over the different branches of government. The use of this two political party system creates many problems within our government as the two parties fight for control over legislature and control over the government. Despite using a republic system as Madison mentions in his paper, factions continue to control and affect our government today. Madison 's views on government branches also affects our government today. Our government being in branches does help our government from being affected by corruption by each branch being independent from each other. These independent branches help prevent corruption by each branch having independent leadership and control and not being affected by the views of each other. At the same time these branches having unique views and control can lead to problems as the branches of government may not be able to interact properly with
In the 1790s, soon after the ratification of the Constitution, political parties were nonexistent in the USA because President Washington feared they would drive the country apart. However, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, with their rivalling mental models, could not help but spark the division of the United States into the Democratic-Republican and Federalist parties. These parties, the Democratic-Republican wanting a small, local government system and the Federalist wanting a strong, powerful government system, turned citizens against one another and eventually led to the inimical Democratic and Republican parties of today. Hence, the formation of the original political parties in the United States is very significant. Political
There were many differences between the Federalist and Democratic Republican Parties. One party was wealthy, the other poor. Each party had control over a particular part of the nation. They each had their own idea as to how to interpret the Constitution. This split between parties was just the beginning of the American political party system, it is inevitable since people have and will always have different ideas on the best way to run the nation and the best way to govern the people. We the American people will just have to agree to disagree and work together for a better future.
...r to help each other and also contribute to voting for the country. However, even today America still has political party groups which affect the country both positively and negatively unlike what Washington had thought. He stated that parties would cause problems, however the parties are what keep the government intact and it also helps make decisions for the country.
Limited government is a political system in which legalized force is restricted through delegates and enumerated powers . The constitution itself starts with “We the people…” the people who should and mostly do have the power. Limited government allows people to have the power over government by having elections, checks and balances in a system, and federalism. All entities that help the people stay in control of their nation, a nation founded on limiting government, from the Articles of Confederation to our modern day constitution.
Whether political polarization is good or bad for the nation is still up for debate, but the general consensus is it exists due to a variety of reasons. From the construction of our Constitution, it is clear that the intent of our founding fathers was to create opposition in order to prevent tyranny from prevailing. Polarization is a result of the dividing of a nation into political parties. Though polarization has fluctuated throughout the years, it has caused a great deal of trouble in regards to passing legislation and has resulted in a gridlocked Congress. Even though some fear congressional polarization is destined to get worse, “it is mathematically impossible for congress to get much more polarized” than it is now.
system produces conflicts between the Congress and the President and promotes very outdated beliefs that stem from the Constitution. A vast majority of the American population has the stern belief that the Constitution does not need to be changed in any way, shape, or form. This belief, however, is keeping the country from progressing along with other countries around the world. These single parties are holding control of multiple branches of government at once and monopolizing the power during their respective terms. The government “faces an incapacity to govern since each party works as a majority party” and believes there is no reason for innovation (Dulio & Thurber, 2000). The two parties are seemingly always clashing about one thing or the other, making it difficult for things to get accomplished, and proves the thesis correct that the two-party system is ineffective for a growing country.
On may 25 , 1787 the constitutional convention begain at independence Hall in Philadelphia inorder to amend the Articles of Confederation . It was apparent to the framers of the Constitution that the Articles of Condeferations lacked central authority over foreign and comestic commerece threw many conflicts over time after the Revolutionary War . this wouldn’t be a harmonious amendment either . Between the federalists and the Anti – Federalist the spent the entire summer creating a new government unlike any before . Leaving no one happy proving their creation was fair . One of the biggest conflicts was the balancing of powers between the national and state powers in our feredal sytem (KTP 74).
Separation of powers guards against tyranny by dividing the powers of the branches. In document B in the Federalist paper, James Madison states, “Liberty requires that the three great department of power should be separate and distinct.” What Madison meant by this is that the government’s power should be separated to avoid one person or group from gaining too much power. The separation of power is necessary so it will prevent abuse of power and to safeguard the freedom for all. The system of separation of powers divides the tasks of the states into three branches: legislative, executive and judicial branch. These tasks are assigned to different institutions in such a way that each branch can check the others. As a result, no one institution can become so powerful in a democracy as to destroy this
There are two ways to get rid of the causes of factions, or political parties. The first way of removing these causes is to destroy the liberty essential to their existence. The second way to get rid of the causes is to give everyone the exact same o...
As James Madison said, “The different governments will each control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” What James Madison is trying to say is that the central and state governments have enough power that they don’t control everything. The central government has enough power to help some of the country’s major needs, and the state government has enough power to help the state’s needs because the state’s needs may be more specific. From this, you may conclude, that dividing powers between the central and state governments prevents tyranny. The first guard against tyranny was Federalism, which means a system of government in which power is divided between a federal government and state government.
Why should we question our government? Why should we doubt the decision that was taken for the better of the people years ago? Before federalism was even considered did we not have an anti federalist government? Did we not try to make it work? If anti-federalism is for the better of the people why did we feel the need to question it? Why did we feel the need to change it? The answer to all of these questions is simple. Anti-federalism is not and will never be for the better of the states, but most importantly it’s not for the better of the people as a whole.